There are no bad teams, only bad leaders.

Just after the first of the year I was hospitalized for an infection in my thumb. My stay lasted a week and involved multiple antibiotics, a lancing and finally an operation to cut the infection out. A month and a half later I am still on antibiotics and still in recovery mode. I have yet to return to work.  I share this with you that you will understand I have had a lot of time on my hands. A fair share of that time has been devoted to evaluating the performance of last fall's high school team. It was my first losing season as a coach in a very long time.

To be fair, I began this evaluation process even as the fall season wound down. I knew the one problem area we never solved was leadership. I was disappointed and frustrated in player leadership almost from the start.

As I considered all that went wrong last fall I found myself narrowing focus to specific individuals whom I had identified as being so toxic that they were preventing their teammates from being successful. Some time ago I had come across the phrase "frustrated genius" to describe such a person. Being a typical coach, I appropriated this phrase for my own use. In short, a frustrated genius is a rogue element who makes excuses, assigns blame and rarely if ever accepts any responsibility for negative results. I had dealt with such before. Sometimes they see the error of their ways and make the 180 degree turn around to become productive members of winning teams and sometimes they must be culled from the herd before success for the team can manifest itself. Last fall neither occurred and there is only one person responsible for that, me.

I am to blame for last falls losing season.  It was a challenging situation but I failed to properly lead. I had become comfortable and complacent as a coach. I had my system that worked well season after season for years. I lost sight of the details of the process. I did not bring the energy to the team that it required.  As a leader goes, I failed miserably.  I let the players down.

It was not until the first scrimmage that I had a full team together. Even then we were missing a player who was on extended summer vacation.  We only had 14 players in the program at that point. I feared not having enough to field a team were I to enforce my usual standard of zero tolerance when  it came to unexcused absences.  This was my first and worst failure of the season.  I set a standard and then by not enforcing the standard lowered said standard to such a degree that we could not be successful.

Captains are a coach's sub-leaders. I placed the onus on the captains to enforce the attendance standard. Two of the players most often absent from training were captains.  I focused early efforts on turning around these frustrated geniuses and eventually just gave up on them.  I failed. I should have removed them as captains upon their first unexcused miss from training.  Because I failed, the team failed. The blame for that is on no one but me.  Period.

There are other sub-leaders on a successful soccer team.  Each line must have one of these.  The GK, must be a sub-leader. The back line, midfield and forwards must all have sub-leaders to help coordinate and execute the game plan.  These leaders did not emerge to anywhere near the extent we needed them to and I am to blame for this. It was a trickle down effect stemming from my failure to hold two captains accountable to the attendance standard.  The chain of command was faulty and this was my fault.

And I can trace each failure within the team back to standards. The source of the team's poor performance was not the standards that were set, but the standards that were accepted. Standards are empty when not enforced. Ours were and I am to blame for that.

A renewed energy is beginning to boil within me.  The program I was put in charge of deserves better than last seasons poor performance. I have set my aim on bringing a winning performance to next falls team.  I'm not necessarily speaking of a winning season, but a winning performance. I need to get this thumb healed up so I can return to work and begin the process that will bring this about.Lots of work to be done and it's time to get started.

Everyday is a Tryout

Everyday is a tryout is a mantra I repeat to my teams on an almost daily basis. My teams are a strange combination of dictatorship and meritocracy. I strive to give as much ownership of the team as possible to the players while retaining final say on certain matters to preserve order for the common good. Sometimes I wonder if the message being sent is the same as the message being received.

Everyday is a tryout. Four words that can define a process, a life even. They go to the very heart of what has become known as the daily grind. What you earned yesterday should be but a platform for what you will earn today. What you earn today is the starting point for tomorrow's growth.  This is what a meritocracy is.  This is what life is.

I have begun meeting with potential leaders of next years team. These are the players who have expressed interest in being captains. What I am seeking to determine is which of this group understand everyday is a tryout. Who among them understand that leadership is an action word, a verb, long before it becomes a noun?

(Hit the jump for the rest of the article)

Your expectations?

Anyone who coaches knows the off season can be even more hectic and stressful than the regular season. Amid scheduling scrimmages and matches, planning for camps, summer tournaments, fundraisers and the like I have also been considering the current state of our program and how to take the next step forward. The evolution of our culture must continue and to be perfectly honest this is the one facet of our program that concerns me the most. I keep coming back to one word -

EXPECTATIONS

In the context of sports we often see expectations framed in the idea of a team being able to handle high expectations for a coming season.  Will they rise to the occasion or crumble under the pressure? But expectations come in many forms. For me, the most disconcerting moment of last season was hearing core players express their belief an opponent would kick our asses while they were still in the locker room before a match. Their sentiment about that day's match was in stark contrast to my own expectations which were to come out, compete and just maybe get the win!

This has been very much on my mind as I plan for the 2017 season. Some of these players might be back with us next fall. If they are, will their defeatist attitudes be back with them?  Will their expectations have changed? Or will they continue to be a drag on the program?

What do they expect of themselves?                                 What do I expect of them?

What will their teammates expect of them?                      What will they expect of their
                                                                                           teammates?

Is there common ground to be found?

If not, is progress in the process of establishing a winning culture even possible?

This is a very serious question to consider for it has been my experience both individuals and teams usually get exactly what they expect.

I desire a team of individuals who expect to win every time they step onto the pitch. It might be the single most important characteristic I look for in an individual. This must be our expectation from the Head Coach through the coaching staff to the Captain(s) and extending throughout the team to the very last player on the bench.

For these reasons, the selection of Captains carries more importance this coming season than usual. Sometimes a strong culture can prop up a weak captain.  This coming season my expectation is for a strong captain to advance the culture of the program.

Another consideration is, if I do not get what I expect from returning players, do I look to new players with the same expectations I have for the program? That would be a drastic short-term step, but one that might be necessary to advance the program in the long-term.

Let me be clear, my expectations are to be competitive in every match. I expect to win every time we step onto the pitch.  I expect greatness. I expect championships.

Captains

Many players aspire to wear the "C" or captains armband in representation of his team. The truth is, not everyone is cut out or properly prepared to be a captain.

Captains can be difference makers for their team. You want positive difference makers as captains.

Captains are, as an extension of the coach, the on-field leaders of the team. Captains must set the tone and the pace for training. They decide the team's standards in training and for play - what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

Not every player is suitable to be a captain. Poise and composure in addition to leadership skills are necessary to be an effective captain. A captain needs to be able to deal with effectively and positively with adversity encountered during training and matches. He must be a team player both capable and willing to help teammates in an encouraging and enabling manner. Captains must be builders, not destroyers, of confidence.

A captain must have both knowledge of and passion for the game of soccer. This is a player who has helped determine the shared vision of the team and is compelled in his commitment to helping the team achieve that vision.

Before leading others, a captain must take care of his own business. Not every player is a someone that others will listen to. A captain is not necessarily the teams "best" player nor is he necessarily the most outspoken player. The captain is a thinker and effective problem solver who places the team's achievement above all else. The captain is well respected by coaches and teammates alike.

Respect is given and received through positivity and a calm mature manner. Staying focused and on task is a necessity. He should have enthusiasm for the achievements of his teammates as well as his own. He should be encouraging and helpful to both coaches and teammates. In a word, steady. Never too high and never too low emotionally yet always engaged.

Captains cannot give lip service to the ideals and standards of the team. If he is going to talk the talk, he must walk the walk - in all aspects of the team environment including punctuality, fitness, communication, nutrition and hydration, respectfulness, trustworthiness and inclusiveness. Teammates are equals and each is valued equally for his contribution to the team no matter how great or small that contribution might be.

Just like a good coach, a captain must be a good listener. He must be approachable by both teammates and coaches as well as by referees. He must possess and exercise the ability to deal with each in a calm, poised and respectful manner.

A captain must be a team player and willingly follow instructions from the coaching staff. It is okay to debate with the coach(es) in private, but he must be respectful of the coach's final decision and follow through on instructions for the good of the team.

A captain must be knowledgeable of the game. On-the-pitch the captain should be able to function as a coach in directing play, helping maintain shape, space and pace from both sides of the ball. Good, effective and efficient communication is a must for a captain. Once again, taking caring of his own business first but not being so self absorbed that he cannot help teammates position and play to their full potential in a calm and composed manner.

Most importantly the captain embraces the position with humility and recognition that being a captain is both an honor and privilege, not a right or an entitlement. 

One of the best captains I ever had was a young lady by the name of Shayna. Thoroughly strong, resilient and inclusive. Compassionate when called upon to be. Respectful and trustworthy. A vocal on-field leader - both forceful and encouraging. I wish I could clone the characteristics, traits and qualities she brought to the role of captain.

Soccer Memories - Candace

Some of my favorite soccer memories are the following:

 

* At the end of the last soccer game, after we had just lost, when the Climb by Miley Cyrus came on the radio and the entire team sang along.

 

* When on the way home after a game we had to stop at a random McDonalds just becausde Libby had to use the bathroom.

 

* When I broke my nose minutes before I was suppose to walk out with my parents on Senior night.

 

* When I broke my nose the first time (lol) and I hadn't realized it and kept playing, so after the game I walked up to a coach and asked, "My nose is okay, right?" and he put both of his thumbs to the sides of my nose and just laughed and responded, "No, it's broken."

 

* Getting announced as Captain.

 

* At a camp for little kids with multiple other high school teams around, when Amanda and I were messing around and I meant to trip her and we both fell right in the middle of Anthony Wayne's girls team.

 

* When at film listening to Peyton every time she got the ball, "OKAY EVERYONE STOP LISTEN LOOK AT ME PLAY."

 

* Getting a yellow card my senior year because of "a look I had in my eye" (Personally I think that's code for, I'm a really bad ref)

 

*After the last game Billy telling us how proud of us he us, a lot of it because there was a huge rainbow in the background and during the game nobody yelled, "Look guys, a rainbow!"

 

* Getting called B**** Barbie by another team my junior year, and my team and coaches then proceeding to call me "Barbie" for the rest of my soccer career

Captains and Standards

The Way We Do Anything

is the

Way We Do Everything.

Standards are so very important to a teams success so it makes sense the selection of the standard bearers, or Captains, is one of the most critical decisions to be made.  I know some coaches who allow team members to decide by vote who will lead them. Other coaches refuse to allow the players to make such a crucial decision fearing a popularity vote instead of a serious objective vote. Other coaches will take a blended approach - the team votes in one Captain and the coach appoints another Captain.

In the end, the standards set for the team and enforced by the Captains are the foundation that will be built upon. Hopefully the program will have strong traditions to help guide the Captains. If not, there exists the added opportunity for your Captains to build tradition through their leadership of their team.

One of the things my teams hear ad nauseam from me is to hold one another accountable. I urge them to not allow corners to be cut in even the simplest activities. They are constantly reminded that if they cut a corner in training, they will most assuredly cut a corner in the match for the way we do anything is the way we will do everything.

Your Captains should be the players who hold themselves to the highest standards and demand that everyone else adheres to those standards as well. Only then will you have a team capable of achieving to its full potential.

Listen to the Pass

Many coaches who contact me seek help in getting their teams to talk on the pitch. What they actually want is better communication between teammates playing the game.  This might be for organizational purposes - establishing and maintaining proper defending shape, for example.  It might be for coordinating movement of the ball and players - calling for the ball to be played to a corresponding run, for instance.  The emphasis is on getting players to talk to one another on the pitch.

What about listening?

Effective communication is a shared responsibility. What good does it do if everyone is talking, but no one is listening?  We have written about the shared responsibility of passing and receiving in past articles. The most basic fundamental technique to be practiced in passing and receiving is often the least understood by coaches and players alike.

"He won't listen!"  This is the complaint I fielded recently from a captain of one of our camp teams.  The "he" in question is a talented athlete but a mediocre soccer player. He gives great effort, but doesn't think the game very well and he refuses to "take instruction" as he repeats the same mistakes over and over.  The transgression his teammates and coaches are currently most frustrated with is the player's tendency to turn and go towards goal every time he touches the ball regardless of situation or defensive pressure. "That's his total thought process," the captain complained. "He's destroying our rhythm and making it impossible to maintain possession."

I understand the frustration, but the real issue is to understand why the player was not listening. Sometimes I wonder if I am speaking in tongues as what I say is seemingly ignored or completely misunderstood. I have to re-evaluate not what I am attempting to communicate, but how I am communicating what I want understood.

Education can be a critical element of this process.

The player in question, we shall call him John, had an established bad habit of going straight to goal every time he gained possession of the ball. He often turns into pressure only to be dispossessed by a defender lying in wait for him or he will blindly turn only to encounter multiple defenders ready to dispossess him of the ball. John's bad habit is needlessly self-inflicting pressure upon himself and by extension, his team.  Teammates imploring John to "drop the ball" back are generally ignored. Encouragement to "play the way you face" when under pressure is ignored. The captain actually  proclaimed, "It's like playing with someone who is deaf! And if you try to help him he gets mad and refuses to pass you the ball at all."

I posed the following question to the captain and his coaches, "If John will not listen to you, will he listen to the ball?"

Yeah, from the looks I received I figured I was speaking in tongues again!

I was not, but I did have to explain what I meant by listening to the ball. The explanation wasn't warranted because of a lack of knowledge on the captain and coaches part so much as a different perspective being required on the knowledge they already possessed.  Sometimes we take for granted a basic level of knowledge or understanding only to discover such is not the case in fact. My suspicion was that is what was happening here.

Did John understand if a teammate directed a pass to his front (close or near) foot it was being communicated to him there was a defender on his back and he should "play the way he is facing" or not turn into pressure? Has anyone taught John this cue for receiving and combination passing?  Does John know, understand and appreciate that if the ball is played to his back (far or across his body)  foot that there is an implied understanding that he can open to the field of play and even turn towards goal?

In short, had anyone ever taught John to listen to the pass?

And does John understand and appreciate what the pass is saying to him?

There are, of course, many other forms of non-verbal communication that can be utilized if and only if all teammates are speaking the same language.  In today's case, John was resistant to verbal communication. So, why not teach John the language of the pass and allow the ball to be the translator of the information being shared? John can then take that information (knowledge) the pass is providing him and use it to improve his own decisions on when to play the way he faces or when he can turn and go.

Elida Bulldogs Senior Captains and Grand Lake United members!

 

Chase Watson. Garrett Brinkman. Adam Ordel,

 

 

 

 

Positive Energy

One of the buzz phrases in prevalent use in board rooms and locker rooms across the country is,

Positive Energy

Positive Energy is hardly a new concept.  Norman Vincent Peale published The Power of Positive Thinking over a half century ago and there are countless other examples throughout history. The concept is rather simplistically based on the principle that positive people, positive interactions amongst people and positive work or play environments produce positive or winning results. If your team is burdened by a losing culture, low morale or negative leadership the cure is Positive Energy.

Of course, the answer is a bit more detailed for the problems road blocking Positive Energy are often more complicated. If this were not true, everyone, every team, every business would have Positive Energy and it is quite obvious many do not. The fact is negativity can creep into a team and begin costing it wins before leadership recognizes the problem and takes action to generate Positive Energy to root out negativity.

Plain and Simple, it is Leadership that makes the Difference.

I am at a high school soccer match nearly every day and if it is a Saturday I will often take in multiple matches. I have seen some very good teams and some not so good teams over the course of my travels. Teams that clearly overachieve and others that just as clearly underachieve.  It occurs to me that one thing makes more difference than all others in determining whether a team succeeds or not -Leadership.

A coach can often make the difference in a program by setting a wise course and having a firm, steady hand upon the rudder, but it still takes player leadership for a team to be successful. Senior leadership is especially important on high school and collegiate teams. This is why even the best of coaches can suffer a down year now and again. Sometimes the leadership from amongst players just isn't up to par.

It has become clear to me that coaches need to make a very real and concerted effort to train leaders on their teams. It is every bit as important as training technical and tactical aspects of play. Sometimes more so.

What prompted this great revelation?  As is usually the case it is personal experience that provided the catalyst.  During my last stint as a high school coach the athletic director forbid me from conducting leadership training with the senior class. I had wanted to use Jeff Janssen's The Team Captain's Leadership Manual as a guide with the senior class. It seemed to be a matter of economics that blocked this proposal although the fact I had grown the program from 17 players to 29 in a single year seemed to be perceived as a threat to other sports at the small school as well.

I knew there was enough talent on that team to win a league title and make a deep, very deep, run in the state tournament. I also knew there were "strong personalities" in the senior class who could derail everything if they did not put the team first.

Great Leaders are Mission-focused

Poor Leaders are Me-focused.

I recognized we had two strong willed individuals in that senior class who were poor leaders. Not allowed to work with them on training to become good, effective leaders as I had planned it was necessary to become creative in doing so.  I did not reach those individuals with the message of mission-focused leadership.  More precisely, I could not find a way to override their me-focused attitudes in favor of a mission-focused attitude. As a result, the team had its best season ever, but still underachieved.

In the last 10 days I have seen two teams that are underachieving, in my opinion.  In both cases a lack of proper leadership amongst the student athletes is a primary reason.  In one case, it is good kids with no idea how to lead and probably receiving little training on how to do so.  In the other case it is more than likely me-focused vision amongst key senior players. To watch either of these teams it becomes apparent they have talent and play some great stretches of soccer, but just cannot put it all together consistently enough.When faced with adversity, they struggle to overcome it despite having the technical and tactical ability to do so. Something is missing. Something is preventing them from playing to their full potential. I am convinced that something is a lack of proper leadership from amongst the players.

As a fan of University of Michigan athletics I am familiar with Bo Schembechler's The team, the team, the team! speech. It is one of the legendary motivational speeches in the history of sports.  That team went on to greatness because they bought in, they believed in something greater than just themselves as individuals. Personal agendas were put aside. They played for one another. This is what great teams do.  I feel that environment can be taught and nurtured or in the very least enhanced through proper leadership training especially of key individuals.

The quality of leadership is the difference.

Make it work for your team.